Chapter 2703: Supreme Realm
The Eternal Return Dao Domain broke free from suppression and immediately contracted back toward Zhang Ruochen's body. All sacred dao rules converged around the Gate of True Self, forming a spatial vortex a hundred zhang in diameter.
The attacks launched by Shang Zihong, Yuan, and Lan Ying fell into the spatial vortex, where they were twisted and dispersed.
Furthermore, the power of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements condensed above Zhang Ruochen and Bore's heads into a massive Taiji fish mark, with heavenly sacred qi and heavenly rules continuously gathering there.
Xue Jue War God's tense expression relaxed slightly, and he smiled. "This Fate Divine Lady is quite fair and balanced. Not bad, very good indeed!"
The gods present, including Ghost Lord and Green Deer Divine King, did not feel that Bore had done anything wrong.
After all, the Destiny Temple had always been maintaining balance among the ten clans, trying to resolve conflicts and hatred between them to reduce internal strife within the Hell Realm.
Bore had first acted to save Nan Sheng, which was meant to resolve the conflict between the Undying Blood Clan and the Death Clan, preventing further enmity between the Blood Absolute Family and Tiannan Life-Death Abyss.
Now, with Zhang Ruochen on the verge of breakthrough, about to break through the extreme limit of two eon numbers and become an unprecedented supreme being, as a Divine Lady, helping him would not only add a peerless prodigy to the Hell Realm but also resolve the hatred from the Blood Absolute Family caused by her earlier rescue of Nan Sheng. Instead, it could win the hearts of the Blood Absolute Family, making them grateful to the Destiny Temple.
A battle that had nothing to do with her had made both Tiannan Life-Death Abyss and the Blood Absolute Family owe her favors. Such skill and cunning impressed and amazed the gods.
This was why even Xue Jue War God gave the evaluation "not bad, very good indeed."
A god from the Nütian Shen Palace of the Destiny Temple said, "Zhang Ruochen wants to break through two eon numbers at the Ten Thousand Deaths One Life Realm. He must both resist the power of heaven and earth and use it for himself. Outsiders can't help at all. Only the Divine Lady's Gate of True Self can play some role. Xue Jue, you owe my Nütian Shen Palace a big favor!"
This god was the senior disciple of Nütian Shenzun.
"I know, I know. When the Divine Lady steps down, I'll personally propose to Nütian Shenzun," Xue Jue War God said.
Hearing this, Nütian Shenzun's senior disciple felt disgusted. I just wanted you, Xue Jue, to owe a favor, but you're so shameless, getting the benefit and still wanting the person.
Outrageous.
At this moment, Zhang Ruochen was like someone undergoing a tribulation. Outsiders truly couldn't help.
During a tribulation, the stronger the cultivator who helps, the greater the calamity attracted, ultimately causing the cultivator's death.
The stronger the cultivator who helps Zhang Ruochen now, the greater the suppression from heaven and earth, reaching a level Zhang Ruochen couldn't resist at all.
Only the power of the Gate of True Self, originating from the true self and the Fate Heavenly Dao, could help Zhang Ruochen to some extent. Of course, the main effort still depended on Zhang Ruochen himself.
...
"Want to break through? Ask me first."
Yin Yuanchen flew above Zhang Ruochen and Bore, channeling endless sacred qi from his palms into the Floating Heaven Pagoda, activating the supreme inscription runes inside.
Heavenly chanting filled the air once more.
The Floating Heaven Pagoda spun and rose, growing larger and larger, its power fluctuations slightly distorting time and space. The massive tower body pressed down toward the spatial vortex and the Taiji fish mark below.
An Eon-level genius controlling a war weapon like the Floating Heaven Pagoda could unleash power that even a false god couldn't withstand.
"Divine Lady!"
Cultivators from the Destiny Temple cried out in alarm, wanting to save her but unable to act in time.
Bore's bright eyes looked up, fearless and without sorrow, and she whispered, "Zhang Ruochen, this is all I can do for you. True Self... No Self..."
With the words "No Self," she struck the Gate of True Self with her palm, sending it crashing into Zhang Ruochen.
"Boom!"
The Gate of True Self shattered, turning into a rain of light that bathed Zhang Ruochen.
The brilliant light was dazzling and radiant, temporarily blinding even the Great Saints present.
But they were deeply shaken by what had just happened, their hearts stirred.
"The Fate Divine Lady actually abandoned her Gate of True Self to help Zhang Ruochen break through the extreme limit of numbers. This is too..." A cultivator from the Heavenly Court wanted to say "noble," but thinking that she was a demoness of the Hell Realm who killed without mercy, he swallowed the words back.
Sacrificing oneself for another's achievement—that was worthy of being called noble.
Blood Butcher, Zhuo Yunong, Que, and the cultivators from the three divisions and twelve palaces were all stunned, finding it hard to believe.
The Gate of True Self was formed from Fate rules, containing Bore's "True Self World." After reaching the Thousand Questions Realm, the True Self World had merged with Bore's Dao Domain.
The Gate of True Self represented her entire lifetime of cultivation.
As the Fate Divine Lady, her cultivation had reached the peak below the divine realm, just one step away from becoming a god. Bore's achievements were only slightly inferior to those of Eon-level geniuses.
Who would be willing to abandon all this cultivation to help an unrelated cultivator?
Not to mention helping an unrelated cultivator—in the cultivation world, where only power mattered and family bonds were thin, even parents and siblings couldn't do this.
"This Fate Divine Lady is truly admirable!" Luo Sheng Tian exclaimed.
Luo Sha chuckled softly. "Didn't my imperial brother notice that the Divine Lady abandoned her Gate of True Self without a moment's hesitation?"
"So what?" Luo Sheng Tian said.
Luo Sha's beautiful eyes narrowed as she looked at the white, hazy world of light. "Imperial brother, if I needed to break through to become a god and required you to sacrifice all your cultivation, would you be willing?"
Luo Sheng Tian was taken aback, hesitating for a moment. "My imperial sister is ranked Grade A on the Divine Reserve Scroll. Breaking through to become a god shouldn't be difficult. Of course, your imperial brother would be willing to help you."
"See? Even with our sibling bond, you still hesitated. What relationship does the Fate Divine Lady have with Zhang Ruochen? How could she not hesitate at all?" Luo Sha said.
"The Fate Divine Lady is decisive in her actions..."
Luo Sheng Tian thought of something, his expression turning serious. "You mean they have a deep relationship? This Zhang Ruochen is too unfaithful, even going after the Fate Divine Lady."
Luo Sha smiled, neither confirming nor denying. "Maybe the Fate Divine Lady just saw my Chen Ge as handsome and talented and fell for him unrequitedly. Women are prone to infatuation, aren't they? Eh! Great, Chen Ge has broken through!"
From the world of light formed by the shattered Gate of True Self, a powerful wave of energy emerged.
Zhang Ruochen's figure appeared, and he struck upward with his palm, hitting the bottom of the descending Floating Heaven Pagoda. Behind him, a towering sacred image phantom manifested.
Zhang Ruochen's sacred dao rules had already broken through two eon numbers, but he had not yet condensed his Supreme Dharma Body.
"Sizzle!"
While resisting the Floating Heaven Pagoda, the sacred dao rules surrounding his body continuously rushed into Zhang Ruochen, merging with his skin, flesh, bones, organs, meridians, nerves, and every tiny part of his body.
The fusion of sacred dao rules and the physical body was the process of condensing the Supreme Dharma Body—the merging of "Dharma" and "Body," of "Dao" and "Person."
Sacred dao rules were the Dharma, the Dao that cultivators comprehended from heaven and earth.
The physical body was the cultivator themselves.
When the two merged, the cultivator's body would become supremely powerful, hence called "Supreme." Thus, the Supreme Dharma Body could even surpass a demigod's physical body.
To become stronger, there were only two methods.
First, continue cultivating sacred dao rules and merging them with the physical body.
The human body was composed of particles, about sixty trillion of them.
Each particle could only merge with one sacred dao rule.
Theoretically, the ultimate realm of the Saint realm was "absolute physical Daoization," where every particle in the body merged with a sacred dao rule.
But no cultivator had ever achieved this.
Nor was it necessary to reach that level, because cultivators had another way to become stronger: breaking through to become a god.
Zhang Ruochen had already swallowed an Imperial-grade Sacred Pill. The nearly twenty-six trillion sacred dao rules he had cultivated almost instantly merged into his body.
"Rustle!"
On the vast sea surface, heavenly sacred qi became active, rapidly gathering toward Zhang Ruochen.
Nourished by heavenly sacred qi, the sacred dao rules Zhang Ruochen had cultivated quickly strengthened, becoming thicker. Moreover, their number increased sharply, reaching nearly thirty trillion.
Zhang Ruochen officially condensed his Supreme Dharma Body and stepped into the Supreme Realm.
The fragments of the Flame God Armor, which had been shattered, flew up from the sea, turning into scattered flames that flew toward Zhang Ruochen, wrapping around him and recondensing into armor form.
On Zhang Ruochen's back, the thirteenth and fourteenth golden wings grew out.
Fourteen golden wings released powerful blood fiend qi, condensing into a ten-thousand-mile sea of blood beneath his feet.
"What a powerful energy fluctuation."
"Is this... a breakthrough? Breaking through to become a god? No, this is breaking through to the Supreme Realm. So Zhang Ruochen was at the Ten Thousand Deaths One Life Realm before? How is this possible?"
Most cultivators present hadn't known Zhang Ruochen was at the Ten Thousand Deaths One Life Realm. Seeing him break through now and recalling his earlier achievements, they all fell into shock and silence.
"Roar!"
Zhang Ruochen let out a long roar and struck the bottom of the Floating Heaven Pagoda with his palm. A Yin-Yang Taiji mark appeared in his palm, sending the mountain-sized pagoda flying away.
With a whoosh, the Abyssal Ancient Sword flew into his hand.
Zhang Ruochen's gaze swept across the area, and his figure shot forward rapidly. Time imprint light points automatically condensed, flying alongside him.
The sword light was like a startled swan, like a flash of lightning.
"Rip!"
Lan Ying, Shang Zihong, and Yuan, who had attacked from three directions, were struck by Zhang Ruochen's sword. The three top experts flew sideways like scarecrows. Among them, Lan Ying's soul body and Yuan's ghost body were torn into over a dozen pieces by the sword light.
Shang Zihong's body didn't shatter, but he was knocked back into his petrified original form, with all the inscriptions on his body appearing, giving him a fierce and strange look.
"Boom!"
With one sword strike, he defeated three Eon-level representatives. The Saint realm cultivators present were terrified out of their wits.